Group Wants Giuliani Priest Pal Fired (Priest has been accused of abuse, works for Rudy)

Advocates for victims of abuse by Catholic clergy on Friday urged presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani to fire a priest who was suspended from the church and then hired by the ex-mayor's security consulting business. A spokeswoman for Giuliani said the firm had no plans to fire Monsignor Alan Placa.

Placa, a childhood friend of Giuliani's, has defended himself for years over allegations in a 2003 Suffolk County grand jury report that detailed decades-old abuses by priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.

None of the priests were ever prosecuted or even identified because statutes of limitations had expired long before the district attorney's investigation. Days after the report, Placa acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that he was implicated in the grand jury report but he denied that he had ever abused children.

"There's ample evidence showing that Placa consistently protected predators, shrewdly deceived victims, and covered up horrific clergy sex crimes," said a statement from David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. SNAP also contends that he abused children.

Placa was suspended from his duties as a priest in June 2002 after the abuse allegations surfaced. A lawyer, he currently works as a consultant for Giuliani Partners.

Placa was unavailable for comment Friday, said company spokeswoman Sunny Mindel. She said Giuliani was standing by his childhood friend.

"The former mayor believes that Alan Placa has been unjustly accused," she said.

SNAP called for Giuliani to fire Placa following the publication of a Salon profile of the cleric. In the story, the online magazine quotes Richard Tollner, who testified before the Suffolk County grand jury and claimed he had been abused by Placa. Tollner told the magazine Placa molested him and at least two others, but school authorities did nothing when they were told about it.

Placa and Giuliani have been friends since their days together at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. After he was suspended, Placa received special permission to officiate at the funeral of the former mayor's mother, Helen, in 2002. He also baptized both of Giuliani's children.

There appears to be a pattern here. Here are some more examples of past Giuliani hires/appointees:

He appointed high school dropout and former driver Bernard Kerik to NYC Police Commissioner and pushed him for Homeland Security Chief. Kerik turned out to be corrupt and mob-connected. Giuliani later testified that he had been briefed on Kerik's lawbreaking -- yet he pushed him for the top anti-terrorism post in the country, and then went into business with him.

For NYC Chancellor of Education, Giuliani pushed Leon Goldstein, who later was forced to withdraw his candidacy in disgrace because of allegations that he lied about his qualifications.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE0DB1539F93BA1575AC0A963958260

In 1995, Giuliani pushed Leonard Piccoli to an executive director job in NYC's public hospitals organization, despite the fact that Piccoli had been forced to resign from the same job in 1985 due to alleged substantial contracts and ethics violations.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DC1739F93AA25756C0A963958260

One of Giuliani's closest political allies in NYC, Guy Velella, pled guilty to and served time for taking bribes in return for awarding government contracts.

''I endorsed him, I support him, I've worked with him, I know what a good job he's done for New York City and for the Bronx,'' Mr. Giuliani said. The mayor said he thought the disclosures about the criminal investigation would not seriously damage the senator.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E3DF1639F930A35752C1A9669C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fV%2fVelella%2c%20Guy%20J%2e http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0420,robbins,53585,5.html

Giuliani's Probation Commissioner Raul Russi, and Deputy Probation Commissioner Louis Gelormino, later were dismissed from their jobs under Bloomberg because of their involvement in Velella's early release from jail.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10914FA355F0C708DDDA90994DC404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fV%2fVelella%2c%20Guy%20J%2e

After Ray Harding, head of NYC's Liberal Party, endorsed Giuliani, Giuliani appointed his son Russell Harding to head NYC's Housing Development Corporation -- even though Russell Harding was a college dropout with no experience in housing or finance (Giuliani chose a second son, Robert, as NYC's budget director, and later promoted him to deputy mayor). Russell Harding later pled guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands in public funds, and to possessing child pornography.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0512,robbins2,62314,5.html

The Russell case brought down another of Giuliani's top appointees. Giuliani appointed Richard Roberts NYC Housing Commissioner, and Chairman of the Health and Hospitals Corporation; Roberts was later convicted of perjury related to a $38,000 SUV Russell Harding bought him with city funds.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0436,robbins2,56554,5.html

Giuliani appointed his lifelong friend, Louis Carbonetti, Commissioner of NYC's Community Assistance Unit. Carbonetti was forced to resign when news came out that he had allegedly failed to disclose more than $100,000 in business debts and back taxes and held two driver's licenses with slightly different names at the same time. He pleaded guilty in 2004 to perjury. Carbonetti's son, Anthony Carbonetti, was Giuliani's chief of staff and is now his senior political adviser.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-lijani255229113may25,0,729089.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-headlines

Giuliani's friend Alan Placa was hired on at Giuliani Partners after Placa, a Long Island Priest, was barred from the ministry because of allegations of sexual abuse and using his role as a spiritual adviser to gain information from victims to strengthen the diocese's legal position.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46&aid=19106

When Giuliani promoted Kerik to Police Commissioner, he appointed William J. Fraser to replace him as Correction Commissioner. Fraser resigned in 2002 amid reports that he had paid Correction employees to work on his home, and had allegedly pushed them to work on Pataki's reelection campaign.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A13F73C5C0C748EDDA80994DA404482

Anthony Serra, a Giuliani campaign volunteer and high-ranking official in Giuliani's Dept. of Correction (in charge of all the jails on Riker's Island), resigned after being charged with stealing city property and ordering correction officers to renovate his home.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40913FB395B0C728DDDAC0894DB404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fR%2fRikers%20Island%20Prison%20Complex

In 1994, Giuliani appointed Anthony Schembri to Correction Commissioner. Shembri resigned a year later after disclosures that used a workday to make a paid speech in Atlantic City, had the city regularly pay overtime and tolls for department drivers on errands to Rye, N.Y., where he had been Police Commissioner, and broke the law by never establishing a residence in the City. Shcembri went on to head Florida's troubled Juvenile Justice Dept.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E0D71630F937A15752C1A962958260

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/13/Citrus/Colleagues__friends_h.shtml

Giuliani hired former Corrections Dept. Chief of Staff John Picciano at Giuliani Partners. Picciano, a close friend of Kerik's, was accused of assaulting his girlfriend and threatening her with his gun in 1998. But he was never arrested. According to Terrence Skinner, a retired corrections supervisor, "{Kerik} told me that I should basically pretend it never happened." Picciano left Giuliani Partners one day after Kerik abruptly resigned.

http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?id=19361&siteSection=1

Giuliani appointed Michael Carey, a son of former Gov. Hugh L. Carey, to head NYC's Economic Development Corp. According to a "scathing" audit covering the last 18 months of Giuliani's administration and the first six months of Bloomberg's, the organization was used as a "little bank account for the mayor's office" -- paying for mayoral aides' cars, lavish parties and out-of-town trips. For example, the audit states that it paid more than $11K for Carey's going-away party, and $7K for the going-away-party of Catherine Giuliani, the organization's chief of staff. It also bought at least 11 cars for the mayor's office during Giuliani's administration.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E2DC143FF933A25753C1A9659C8B63

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-8873007.html

I hadn't remembered this before. Richard Roberts is son-in-law of Vernon Jordan, Clinton's man.
Don't you just shiver at the type of people Giuliani would appoint?

A Going-Away Gift From Russell Harding - Ex-Rudy aide: I lied about SUV
Village Voice, September 7, 2004

Less than 24 hours after Rudy Giuliani was hailed as the toast of the Republican convention, one of his former top aides appeared in federal court in Manhattan to plead guilty to lying to a grand jury.
Richard Roberts-a Giuliani stalwart through most of the ex-mayor's two terms in office, serving as special adviser, housing commissioner, and chairman of the Health and Hospitals Corporation-admitted that he lied when questioned about his use of a new $38,000 SUV given to him after he left government. He faces up to five years in prison.
The car was a gift from Russell Harding, another former Giuliani aide, who is currently facing federal charges for embezzling more than $250,000 from the city and destroying records of his expenditures. Harding, the son of Giuliani's political mentor, former Liberal Party boss Ray Harding, served as president of the Housing Development Corporation, of which Roberts was chairman of the board. As the Voice reported last year, Harding bought the deluxe Chevy Tahoe with agency funds and gave it to Roberts as a going-away present in the summer of 2000.
In the federal complaint, prosecutors state that Roberts lied when he told prosecutors and the grand jury that he only used the auto for official business. Roberts, 40, the son-in-law of influential Washington lobbyist Vernon Jordan, refused to answer questions after his hearing last Tuesday. His lawyers declined comment. A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, who retained Roberts as hospitals chief until his resignation last year, said: "He clearly lied, and he pled to that. I think he summed up the case for himself."

Housing Scandal - Probation for ex–Rudy big
Excerpt, Village Voice, November 15, 2005

Shameful publicity is supposed to be a big part of the punishment for officials caught violating their public trust. But that was just one of the ways in which Rudy Giuliani's former housing commissioner and hospitals chairman caught a break last week. Richard Roberts, 41, who pled guilty to lying about his role in the city's Housing Development Corporation scandal, appeared before District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan federal court on Pearl Street for sentencing last Wednesday. The event couldn't have been quieter. No press release was issued, and the daily papers skipped it. The sentencing, delayed for almost a year, was held in the late afternoon, the day after election day. By the time Roberts and his attorneys took their places, it was already dark outside. A rain squall beat against the windows of the near-empty courtroom on the 24th floor.
Without providing details, prosecutor Daniel Braun told the judge that Roberts deserved consideration for having cooperated in the investigation of the wild spending spree by Giuliani appointee Russell Harding, who was sentenced in July to five years in prison. Roberts also faced five years. But the probation department recommended that Roberts receive just three years' probation. The judge split the difference, giving him just 18 months. No fine or further restitution, beyond the $33,000 he had already repaid for car and credit card expenses, was ordered.

Yeah--I thought you would like that one. FYI, here is a summary of Alan Placa and Giuliani
(feel free to use any of it, anytime):

"Alan Placa is one of the finest people I know. He has helped thousands of people as a priest, as a teacher and as a friend. ... If most people did half the good that Alan's done, the world would be a wonderful place."

--Rudy Giuliani

Who is Alan Placa?

Monsignor Alan J. Placa, a former high-ranking adviser in the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York.

• One of Giuliani's two oldest and dearest childhood friends.

• 1960s - Together with Giuliani, attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn and Manhattan College.

• 1968 - Served as Giuliani's best man in his first wedding, to Regina Peruggi.

• 1970 - Ordained a priest

• 1983 - Credited with finding the loophole that allowed the Vatican to annul Giuliani's first marriage from Regina Peruggi (second cousins)

• 1984 - Officiated at Giuliani's second marriage to Donna Hanover.

• 1986/89 - Baptized Giuliani's children from his second marriage, Caroline and Andrew.

• Early 1990s - Florida property transferred to Placa's name by his friend Rev. Thomas A. Kane shortly before Kane declared bankruptcy. Kane was the co-founder and former director of the House of Affirmation in Massachusetts, a treatment center for priests with sex abuse and other problems. Kane left the House of Affirmations in 1986 amid allegations of financial impropriety; the facility closed in 1989. Alan Placa acted as a lawyer for the House of Affirmation, settling sexual abuse cases.

• Jan 1994 - At Giuliani's swearing-in ceremony for his first term as mayor, Placa said a prayer for the new mayor before he took the oath of office.

• 2000 - Ministered to Giuliani when he was suffering from prostate cancer.

• Sep 2001 - Giuliani asked his staff to consult with Placa on canon law and how to expedite declarations of death and payments of life insurance policies to families for those missing in the 9/11 disaster.

• Apr 2002 - Placa removed by Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre from a panel investigating clerical sexual abuse after several families claimed Placa had used his role as a spiritual adviser to get information from victims that would bolster the diocese's legal position.

• Jun 2002 - Placa on leave from the Diocese after allegations surfaced that he molested a teenage seminarian about 25 years ago.

• Sep 2002 - Placa receives special permission from Diocese to preside over the funeral of Giuliani's mother, Helen Giuliani.

• Feb 2003 - Grand Jury report released outlining allegations against Placa of sexual abuse involvement in cover-up of priest sex-abuse scandals.

• Aug 2003 - Begins employment at Giuliani Partners, as an attorney, where partner Michael Hess, the ex-mayor's corporation counsel, also handled Placa's legal matters.

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